姓  名: 许操
    职  称: 研究员
    职  务: 常务副主任
    电话/传真: 010-64803911
    电子邮件: caoxu@genetics.ac.cn
    实验室主页: http://xulab.genetics.ac.cn
    研究方向: 作物发育编程与智能育种

    简历介绍:

    许操,男,博士,研究员,博士生导师,研究组组长。

    学习工作经历:
        2001-2005,山东农业大学生物技术专业,理学学士
        2005-2012,中国科学院遗传发育所遗传学专业,理学博士,
        2013-2017,美国冷泉港实验室(Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)数量遗传学与作物发育定量生物学方向,博士后。
        2017年至今,中国科学院遗传发育所,研究员,博士生导师,研究组长。
        2017年至今,中国科学院-英国约翰英纳斯中心植物和微生物科学联合研究中心(Chinese Academy of Sciences-John Innes Centre, CEPAMS),研究员。
        2025年至今,中国科学院大学生命科学学院,岗位教授
    荣誉奖励:
        2018年,科技部重点领域创新团队成员
        2019年,益海嘉里优秀研究生指导教师奖
        2022年,中国青年科技奖
        2022年,国家杰出青年基金
        2023年,国家自然基金委基础科学中心项目资助
        2024年,中央国家机关“四好”党员
        2025年,中国科学院优秀导师奖
        2025年,中央电视台乡村振兴智库专家

    研究领域:

        植物从种子到成熟个体的发育过程中,其形态建成、器官发生及产量性状形成所遵循的内在、精准、预设的“分子程序”,即“发育编程”;当植物遭遇干旱、高温、盐碱、冷害、病虫害等生物或非生物胁迫时,如何主动、动态地调整原有的调控程序和分子网络,通过“环境适应性重编程”来重塑其发育进程、代谢途径、防御系统及生理状态,从而在变化的环境中保持生存力、恢复力与生产力,即获得“逆境韧性(Stress resilience)”。

        我们综合运用多维生命组学、合成生物学、人工智能、基因编辑、化学生物学和生物物理学等交叉学科方法技术,认识生命-改造生命-设计生命,聚焦作物发育编程与智能育种:  
        1. 认识生命作物发育编程与环境适应性重编程
        从分子、细胞、个体乃至系统水平上,解析作物从常态“编程”到动态“重编程”的切换机制与调控枢纽,鉴定复合逆境的韧性基因,破解作物生长-抗逆平衡机制及其演化规律,为应对气候变化和农业可持续发展,创制顺境高产逆境稳产的环境智能作物提供新理论和设计育种蓝图(Nature, 2026; Nature Chemical Biology, 2021; Nature Genetics, 2019; Nature Plants, 2022; Developmental Cell, 2025; Genome Biology, 2022)


        2.
    改造生命:另辟蹊径,创建三项育种新技术
        (1) 从头驯化育种技术:作物过度集中选育和过分追求单一性状改良常导致遗传多样性降低,产生育种瓶颈,造成育种同质化和资源浪费,难以突破单产提升瓶颈,亟需创新育种策略。
        我们基于植物发育编程与环境适应性重编程理论以及作物驯化与演化规律,选用耐逆、品质、营养等性状或其他目标性状优异的野生或者半野生植物, 综合运用多维组学、合成生物学与基因组编辑等技术,对其农艺性状进行重新设计, 在保持其天然优异性状的前提下,快速从头驯化获得美味、营养、耐逆的新型作物 (Nature Biotechnology, 2018; Cell, 2025; Nature Communications, 2025; PBJ, 2022; JIPB, 2025)


        (2) 环境智能设计育种技术:气候变化和农业灾害威胁全球粮食安全,每年造成我国约3000亿元经济损失,约1000亿斤粮食损失,亟需创新育种技术,培育高产稳优质作物品种,保障我国种源安全和粮食安全。作物的源器官(如叶片)通过光合作用产生碳同化物(如蔗糖),运输至果实、种子等库器官,为人类提供必需的食物和生活物资。源库关系决定植物的捕能和储能效率,是作物产量形成的第一性原理。
        我们创建了环境智能设计育种技术,通过理性设计源库关系和作物优质高产性状形成的枢纽基因,赋予其智能感应环境变化自动优化光合产物从源到库的运输分配的能力,让作物在不额外增加农业资源和人力投入的情况下实现顺境高产逆境稳产,为突破单产提升瓶颈,创制资源节约型和环境智能型高产稳产优质作物品种提供全新技术路径(Cell, 2025a; The Innovation Life, 2025; JIPB, 2026)


        (3) 智能机器人育种技术:农业革命通常与工业革命相伴相生,深刻影响性状选择偏好和农业生物育种路径。人工智能技术正在催生新一轮工业革命,并深刻影响农业生物育种的路径和走向,生物技术与人工智能的深度融合有望推动新一轮绿色革命。
        我们将BT (生物技术) +AI (人工智能) 深度融合,实现作物-机器人协同设计(Crop-robot co-design)的“双向奔赴”,通过基因编辑重新设计作物花型,快速精准创制“机器人友好”的结构型雄性不育系,运用深度学习和人工智能成功研制世界首台可自动巡航杂交授粉的智能育种机器人“吉儿”GEAIR (Genome Editing combined with Artificial-Intelligence-based Robotics, GEAIR),打破杂交育种和制种瓶颈,大幅降低育种成本、缩短育种周期、提高育种效率,开辟了“BT筑基+AI赋能+机器人(Robot)劳作”的智能育种(BAR)模式,在生物育种范式革新和催生新质生产力方面展现了“AI for Science”的重大应用前景(Cell, 2025b; Cell, 2025c; Science Robotics, 2025; Nature Plants, 2025)



        3. 设计生命:基于演化发育生物学的植物生命设计合成
        我们深入探究植物演化发育(Evo-Devo)规律,结合合成生物学手段,重点突破植物细胞发育重编程与遗传回路重塑等关键科学问题。通过蛋白质相分离调控、微环境感知重编程等前沿技术,实现对植物生长发育进程与环境适应性的精准编程。沿着“认识—改造—合成—设计”的技术路径,尝试植物按需定制与理性创制,设计合成满足未来多元需求的新型植物生命。

    社会任职:

    获奖及荣誉:

    承担科研项目情况:

    代表论著:

    近期发表文章(#Corresponding author, *Co-first author):
    1. Chen, S., Zou, Y., Cui H., Dong, Q., Yang, D, Huang, X., Cheng, S., Xin, P., Chu, J., Song, W. #, and Xu, C.# (2026). Cold induced peptide signalling secures pollen resilience and crop yield. Nature.
    2. Xie, Y. *, Zhang, T. *, Yang, M. *, Lyu, H., Zou, Y., Sun, Y., Xiao, J., Lian, W., Tao, J., Han, H., and Xu, C. (2025). Engineering crop flower morphology facilitates robotization of cross-pollination and speed breeding. Cell 188(21), 5809-5830. 
    3. Lou, H.*, Li, S.*, Shi, Z., Zou, Y., Zhang, Y., Huang, X., Yang, D., Yang, Y., Li, Z., and Xu, C. (2025). Engineering source-sink relations by prime editing confers heat-stress resilience in tomato and rice. Cell 188, 530-549.
    4. Wang, Z., Yang, D., and Xu, C. (2026). Turbocharging crop breeding with integrated biotechnology for a climate-resilient future. Journal of Integrative Plant Biology
    5. Xiao, N.*, Lyu, Q.*, Zhang, T., Zou, Y., Xie, Y., Yang, D., Xu, C., Huang, X.#(2026). BLADE-ON-PETIOLE Genes Enable Genetic Bottleneck Mitigation Through Cross-Species Repurposing of Floral Persistence Traits. Advanced Science.
    6. Liu, N.*, Zou, Y.*, Jiang, Z.*, Tu, L., Wu, X., Li, D., Wang, J., Huang, L.#, Xu, C.#, and Gao, W#. (2026). Multiomics driven identification of glycosyltransferases in flavonoid glycoside biosynthesis in safflower. Horticultural Plant Journal 1(12), 189-206.
    7. Yu, Y., Chu, J., Dong, S., Song, W. # and Xu, C. # (2025). Sugar codes for plant fitness: arabinosylation in small peptide signaling. Trends in Plant Science 30(12),1360-1371
    8. Huang, X.*, Xiao, N.*, Xie, Y., and Xu, C. (2025). ROS burst prolongs transcriptional condensation to slow shoot apical meristem maturation and achieve heat-stress resilience in tomato. Developmental Cell 60(15), 2032–2045.
    9. Yu, X.*, Li, Z.*, Yang, Y.*, Li, S., Lu, Y., Li, Y., Zhang, X., Chen, F., and Xu, C. (2025). Harnessing Green Revolution genes to optimize tomato production efficiency for vertical farming.  Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 67(9), 2446–2460.
    10. Huang, X., Su, D., and Xu, C. (2025). Revitalizing orphan crops to combat food insecurity. Nature communications 16(1), 10596.
    12. Yang, D., and Xu, C. (2025). When lettuce bolts: natural selection vs artificial selection and beyond. New Phytologist 246(3), 818–820.
    13. Huang, X., Yang, Y., and Xu, C. (2025). Biomolecular condensation programs floral transition to orchestrate flowering time and inflorescence architecture. New Phytologist 245(1), 88-94.
    14. Huang, X., and Xu, C. (2025). Reviving the charm of a century-old classic theory: Engineering source-sink relations to breed climate-smart crops. The Innovation Life 3(2), 100125.
    15. Chen, S.*, Zou, Y.*, Tong, X., and Xu, C. (2025). A tomato NBS-LRR gene Mi-9 confers heat-stable resistance to root-knot nematodes. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 7(24), 2869-2875.
    16. Yang, D., Wang, Z., Huang, X., and Xu, C. (2023). Molecular regulation of tomato male reproductive development. aBIOTECH 4(1), 72-82.
    17. Huang, X.*, Xiao, N.*, Zou, Y., Xie, Y., Tang, L., Zhang, Y., Yu, Y., Li, Y., and Xu, C. (2022). Heterotypic transcriptional condensates formed by prion-like paralogous proteins canalize flowering transition in tomato. Genome Biology 23(1), 78.
    18. Huang, X.*, Chen, S.*, Li, W., Tang, L., Zhang, Y., Yang, N., Zou, Y., Zhai, X., Xiao, N., Liu, W., Li, P.#, and Xu, C.# (2021). ROS regulated reversible protein phase separation synchronizes plant flowering. Nature Chemical Biology 17(5), 549-557.
    19. Xie, Y., Zhang, T., Huang, X., and Xu, C. (2022). A two-in-one breeding strategy boosts rapid utilization of wild species and elite cultivars. Plant Biotechnology Journal 20(5), 800-802.
    20. Wu, Q.#, Schmidt, W.#, Aalen, R.B.#, Xu, C.#, and Takahashi, F#. (2022). Editorial: Peptide signaling in plants. Frontiers in Plant Science 13, 843918
    21. Kwon, C.-T., Tang, L., Wang, X., Gentile, I., Hendelman, A., Robitaille, G., Van Eck, J., Xu, C.#, and Lippman, Z.#. (2022). Dynamic evolution of small signalling peptide compensation in plant stem cell control. Nature plants 8(4), 346-355.
    23. Tu, L.*, Su, P.*, Zhang, Z.*, Gao, L., Wang, J., Hu, T., Zhou, J., Zhang, Y., Zhao, Y., Liu, Y., Song, Y., Tong, Y., Lu, Y., Yang, J., Xu, C., Jia, M., Peters, R.J., Huang, L.#, and Gao, W#. (2020). Genome ofTripterygium wilfordiiand identification of cytochrome P450 involved in triptolide biosynthesis. Nature Communications 11, 971.
    24. Zhao, H., Qin, Y., Xiao, Z., Li, Q., Yang, N., Pan, Z., Gong, D., Sun, Q., Yang, F., Zhang, Z., Wu, Y., Xu, C., Qiu, F. (2020). Loss of function of an RNA polymerase III subunit leads to impaired maize kernel development. Plant Physiology 184, 359-373.
    25. Rodriguez-Leal, D.*, Xu, C.*, Kwon, C.-T., Soyars, C., Demesa-Arevalo, E., Man, J., Liu, L., Lemmon, Z.H., Jones, D.S., Van Eck, J., Jackson, D.P.#, Bartlett, M.E.#, Nimchuk, Z.L.#, and Lippman, Z.B.# (2019). Evolution of buffering in a genetic circuit controlling plant stem cell proliferation. Nature Genetics 51, 786-792.
    26. Huang, X., Tang, L., Yu, Y., Dalrymple, J., Lippman, Z.B.#, and Xu, C.# (2018). Control of flowering and inflorescence architecture in tomato by synergistic interactions between ALOG transcription factors. Journal of Genetics and Genomics 45, 557-560.
    27. Li, T.*, Yang, X.*, Yu, Y.*, Si, X., Zhai, X., Zhang, H., Dong, W., Gao, C.#, and Xu, C.#. (2018). Domestication of wild tomato is accelerated by genome editing. Nature Biotechnology 36(12), 1160-1163.
    28. Zhang, N.*, Yu, H.*, Yu, H.*, Cai, Y., Huang, L., Xu, C., Xiong, G., Meng, X., Wang, J., Chen, H., Liu, G., Jing, Y., Yuan, Y., Liang, Y., Li, S., Smith, S.M., Li, J., and Wang, Y. (2018). A core regulatory pathway controlling rice tiller angle mediated by the LAZY1-dependent asymmetric distribution of auxin. The Plant cell 30, 1461-1475.
    29. Xu, C., Park, S.J., Van Eck, J., and Lippman, Z.B. (2016). Control of inflorescence architecture in tomato by BTB/POZ transcriptional regulators. Genes & Development 30, 2048-2061.
    30. Xu, C.*, Liberatore, K.L.*, MacAlister, C.A., Huang, Z., Chu, Y.-H., Jiang, K., Brooks, C., Ogawa-Ohnishi, M., Xiong, G., Pauly, M., Van Eck, J., Matsubayashi, Y., van der Knaap, E., and Lippman, Z.B. (2015). A cascade of arabinosyltransferases controls shoot meristem size in tomato. Nature Genetics 47, 784-792.
    31. Xu, C.*, Wang, Y.*, Yu, Y.*, Duan, J., Liao, Z., Xiong, G., Meng, X., Liu, G., Qian, Q.#, and Li, J.# (2012). Degradation of MONOCULM 1 by APC/CTAD1 regulates rice tillering. Nature Communications 3, 750.